


Thaw

by neversaydie



Series: cock it and pull it [18]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Ben has no chill, Bisexual Ben, Closeted Character, Coming Out, F/M, Fluff, Huddling For Warmth, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Snowed In, grey-ace sammy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-04 04:23:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14012121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neversaydie/pseuds/neversaydie
Summary: "I'll see what we've got in terms of supplies. There's some stuff in the break room and there's always-""You're not drinking any more coffee," Sammy cuts him off before he can even say it. "I want to sleep, and if we're huddling for warmth then I'm not dealing with you jittering all night.""We won't have to huddle for warmth, dude," Ben rolls his eyes. "It's not that cold."Which, of course, is when the power goes out.[in which Gwendolyn casts a weather spell, there's cuddling, secrets are shared, Ben thinks about making out too much, and Ron low-key ships Bammy lbr.]





	Thaw

**Author's Note:**

> I got a ton of snowed in at the station/cuddling for warmth prompts... so here we are.

By the time they wrap up and Ben steps outside to call Emily, the snow is coming down even harder than when it had suddenly started spewing from the sky mid-show. The roads have completely frozen over, if Channel 13 is to be believed (not that Ben will admit to checking their weather feed), and considering the station door won't open in the sudden blizzard… it looks like they're not going anywhere for the time being.  

"Ron says he can get up here and dig us out in the morning," Sammy announces when Ben comes back into the studio. He's frazzled and pissed off, having tried to stop this car crash while it was happening and been soundly ignored. "I told you not to fuck with Gwendolyn, dude."

"Excuse me for abusing the bleeper  _a little bit_ ," Ben throws himself back into his usual chair, the old wheels which don't really work anymore squeaking under the force. "I stand by my actions."

"She is the worst, I'll give you that," Sammy agrees grudgingly, headphones still around his neck from the broadcast. "What did Emily say?"

"They're fine. She's gonna walk over to yours and stay there tonight, she knows you're worried about him with the weather."

"I know he'll be totally fine, but if he checks out when-"

"Dude, we get it. It's okay," Ben holds up a hand and Sammy lets out a breath, allowing himself to be relieved that his friends are helping out. "They're gonna make smores, it'll be adorable."

Jack is on a new medication to try and control the absence seizures, but all it seems to have done so far is make them worse. It's not exactly a surprise, considering they still haven't found a physical cause behind the absences, but Sammy is trying to maintain a positive outlook about the whole thing. Jack finds it harder to do so, being the one who can't even fucking drive anymore, but he's doing his best to muddle through.

Sammy can't get the image of Jack checked out and freezing in the snow out of his head, but knowing Emily will be there means he's not as worried as he could be.

"Can I borrow your phone? Mine's dead and I can't remember Jack's number for the landline," he holds up the blank screen (and how he always lets his phone run out of charge, Ben doesn't even know) and almost drops it when he fumbles to catch Ben's cell. "Don't just throw that! No wonder your screen's cracked!"

"'Thanks, best friend, for letting me call my boyfriend so I don't sweat about him all night'," it's a terrible imitation of Sammy's Dad Voice, and Ben seems very satisfied about getting flipped off for it. "I'll see what we've got in terms of supplies. There's some stuff in the break room and there's always-"

"You're not drinking any more coffee," Sammy cuts him off before he can even say it. "I want to sleep, and if we're huddling for warmth then I'm not dealing with you jittering all night."

"We won't have to huddle for warmth, dude," Ben rolls his eyes. "It's not that cold."

Which, of course, is when the power goes out.

  


"I assume you're the little spoon."

"Can we leave my height out of it for once?" Ben huffs, before rolling onto his side in defeat. "And yeah. Duh."

Sammy snugs up behind him and pulls the musty old faux-fur throw from Chet's office over them both, hunkering down into the makeshift nest because it really is cold as hell in here now. They've managed to cobble a decent sleeping area together in the blackout, taken the cushions off the couch and appropriated a couple of Chet's pillows (inside King Falls AM shirts from the box in Ben's 'office', because there's no way they're putting their faces on whatever Chet's _friends_ might have left behind), and will at least survive until Ron makes it up tomorrow.

It's not the most comfortable experience, cuddling fully clothed with your best friend on a floor that hasn't been cleaned since the late seventies, but Sammy rests his arm around Ben's waist and settles in for the long haul.

Jack laughed at him for a full ten minutes on the phone when he brought up the whole spooning to survive thing - especially after he mentioned the leopard-print blanket they'd found. Sammy deserves better people in his life.

Ben is a lot more solid these days, having started to care about his protein intake and fill out from the lanky guy he was when they met, which is something Sammy only notices when he's actively holding him. They hug and stuff, sure, but Sammy's not a very physically demonstrative person, and the revelation that Ben actually has muscles underneath his hoodies is… interesting.

"Are you feeling me up, dude?" Ben sounds more amused than weirded out, but Sammy snatches his hand back from where he'd been absently squeezing a bicep like he's been burned.

He reminds himself - sternly, in his best internal Jack voice - that Ben isn't going to get mad at him or get freaked out or react with any kind of gay panic bullshit. It doesn't stop the alarms in Sammy's head going off loud enough to deafen him, but it does stop him from trying to flee the situation instinctively.

"Sorry. I forgot you work out and I wasn't thinking… I was falling asleep and I didn't mean… Sorry," Sammy offers, lamely, and tucks his arm into his own chest as a gesture of keeping his hands to himself. "No homo?"

"Oh my god," Ben sounds scandalised, and that actually helps calm Sammy down because of course he's more bothered about the choice of words than being felt up by his friend. That's him all over. "Did my gay best friend just _no homo_ me? Dude. Not cool."

"I- You realise being stuck in a situation like this with a straight guy and being found out is one of my worst nightmares, right?" He tries to explain without being too dramatic about it, because he's still not used to actually sharing any of this stuff after a lifetime of keeping quiet about it. "I didn't go on class trips overnight or anything, or change in locker rooms, or… I- I didn't mean 'no homo', just… y'know."

Ben pauses slightly before he answers, and Sammy doesn't know what the hell that's about.

"I respect that. Still. You don't have to, y'know," Ben sticks his arm out of the blanket and makes some kind of gesture Sammy can't be bothered to look at when he's only just starting to warm up. "Just chill and assume I'm hearing a blanket 'no homo' over this whole situation. But less homophobic, because that fucking phrase makes me-"

"Okay, I hear you," Sammy lets the silence hang for a second and then puts his arm back around Ben, tentatively. Ben shuffles closer into him, just to make a point. "Thanks. It's a… kind of a hang-up."

"I'm sorry, did I just hear Sammy Stevens admit to having a  _feeling_?!" The sarcasm is thick enough to cut with a knife, and Sammy pokes him in the ribs right where he's ticklish in retaliation. "Hey, don't make me take it back and declare this a fully homo situation."

"Stop. Go to sleep," Sammy closes his eyes, grateful that at least awkward conversations generate warmth.

They manage a whole minute of silence - which is nearly enough time for Sammy to fall asleep before his brain starts running disaster scenarios and keeps him up all night - before Ben has another burning topic to bring up. Sammy is cutting him off after two cups of coffee from now on.

"D'you ever think about making out? Be-"

"Is this really a conversation you want to have while we're spooning?"

"I mean like, platonically," Ben sounds like he's rolling his eyes. Sammy would check to confirm, but he's too cold and too tired and frankly, too old for this shit. "Like, Emily thinks it would be hot if we made out-"

" _Ben_ ," Sammy hides his face in Ben's shoulder, which isn't really an effective way to get away from someone. How does he end up having these conversations? "No, I don't think about us making out."

"Not ever? I don't mean like, because you're gay. Just 'cause I work out, remember," Ben flexes, stupid and playful, and Sammy wants to hit him at the same time as finding it kind of adorable that he's so concerned about whether he's attractive or not.

"Nah. I don't think about people like that… generally," Sammy squirms a little internally, because he's never actually talked about this with anyone but Jack. This is Ben, he reminds himself again, his extremely sex positive Best Friend Forever who just wondered aloud about platonic makeouts - he isn't going to think he's a freak. "I'm kind of… uh… asexual. Like that."

"Oh, cool," Ben doesn't miss a beat, and Sammy - not for the first time - really wishes he'd had someone like Ben around growing up. His life would have been so much easier. "So do you, like… You and Jack do, y'know, though."

He may have bumped the tips of his fingers together to represent sex. Sammy can't bring himself to look.

"It's not… I'm a sometimes asexual," he lets go of Ben and rolls over to scrub a hand over his face because wow, this really is full slumber party territory (he assumes, having never been to a slumber party). Jack's never going to let him live it down. "There's a name for it, supposedly."

"Like grey-ace?"

"That's the one," Sammy squints over at him in the dark, although Ben remains inscrutable. "How did you know?"  
  
"Internet, dude. There are literally dozens of you," he's being flippant, but Ben can clearly see a little better than Sammy can without his glasses on, and whatever's on his friend's face softens him up. "It must have really sucked growing up before Google, huh. There are forums and stuff, I can send you a link? If you can bring yourself to open an email."

"Fuck you," Sammy shoves his shoulder and Ben barks out a tired laugh. "But yeah, that'd be… that'd be good. How do you… why do you even look this stuff up?"

Ben pauses, considering, before he answers. It feels like they're in a liminal space somehow, outside noise muffled by the snow and the isolation of the station, and that - along with the weird blue light coming through the windows - makes things feel dreamlike and slightly left of reality. The town generally has that vibe, but a magical snowstorm in the middle of spring doesn't exactly make things feel more normal than usual.

"I love King Falls... but I went to college in a city, man. I knew people. There's a whole community and…" he sounds nervous all of a sudden, and Sammy squints unsuccessfully to try and read his expression. He definitely can't see enough to not be surprised by what Ben blurts out next."If I told you something I could have told you a long time ago but didn't, would you be mad?"

"No," Sammy rolls over so they're face to face, because he might not be the most emotionally literate guy in the world, but he's pretty sure he can guess what's coming once he unpacks Ben's hurried question. "I wouldn't be mad."

Ben clears his throat and doesn't let himself pause before he comes out with it, leaping before he looks in a way Sammy always admires.

"I- I'm kinda bisexual. Since we're, uh, sharing," his voice actually cracks a little and Sammy is suddenly, fiercely proud of him for getting the words out. He's never voluntarily come out to anyone, and seeing Ben do it, just be brave because he _can_ , makes Sammy love him even more. "I dated a couple guys in college, nothing serious, and went to pride and LGBT Soc events on campus and stuff… but King Falls is, well, you know what King Falls is like. And since I never dated a guy here it never came up and it was just…"

"Just easier not to say anything," Sammy finishes for him, as Ben exhales like he's been holding his breath for a very long time. "I get it, man. My entire life has been one big lie of omission, I understand."

"I wanted to tell you, after… what happened," they don't talk about Sammy being outed, it's still too painful to touch even though Jack is back and the wounds have started to heal, now. "But you were struggling and I didn't want to make it all about me and-"

"Ben. It's okay, I promise," Sammy finds his hand in the tangle of fabric and limbs and squeezes it, making the effort to be demonstrative for once. He knows what a big deal this is, even if Ben was never really in or out in the first place. "I kinda figured, anyway."

"What? How?!" Ben exclaims, highly offended now the tension is broken, and Sammy just snorts and turns over to face the other direction. The lumpy couch cushions aren't the best surface he's ever slept on, and he can tell his back is going to feel every one of his birthdays in the morning.

"Before you met Emily, you hit on all of the guests. _All_ of them, you didn't discriminate," he's exaggerating, sure, but it's partially teasing and partially just to let Ben know that things really are okay with them. "I think you even hit on me, one time."

"I never hit on you! You were way too intimidating, Big City," Ben shuffles over and shoves his arms around Sammy through the confusion of both their jackets and the furry throw that smells like Chet's most pungent cologne. Nothing has changed between them, but the wobbly relief hiding under Ben's voice hits way closer to home than Sammy would ever admit. "I did have a teeny tiny crush on you, though. For like five minutes. Before I realised you're terrible."

"Huh," Sammy nods slightly as he closes his eyes, because that's always flattering to hear. It's been a weird evening and he really wants to sleep now. "I owe Jack five bucks."

"Did you _bet_ on me?!" Ben is still _so loud_ for this time of night (well, technically it's morning but their schedules are permanently weird), and Sammy just pats his arm sympathetically rather than bothering to respond. "Dude!"

"Go to sleep, big spoon," he murmurs, starting to drift off despite Ben's indignant grumbling. "Proud of you."

"Thanks, Dad," it's sarcastic, as always, but Sammy would hear the genuine affection underneath it if he wasn't already asleep.

Ben considers texting Emily about what just happened - considering she was the first person in King Falls he came out to and also technically-not-his-girlfriend-yet - but remembers what time it is and decides it can wait. He closes his eyes and rests his forehead against Sammy's shoulder, willing the retroactively wired feeling out of his veins as the first faint twinges of tiredness start tugging at the edges of his mind.

It's been a long, strange night, but he's glad they're ending it together.

Ron digs them out around noon - by which point the spell is starting to wear off and the snow is already beginning to melt - and enters the studio to find them still cuddled up together and snoring, Ben curled up with his head on Sammy's chest and quite possibly drooling on his shirt. It's not their best look.

Nobody knows how Ron got the password for the King Falls AM Twitter account, or why he felt the need to caption the picture #bammylives, but their social media interactions go through the roof for the next two weeks.

Sammy's not entirely sure what shipping is (and Jack won't tell him because he finds the whole thing far too amusing), but Ben seems so settled in himself since he got his secret off his chest that he can't bring himself to feel embarrassed about the town seeing them cuddling.

He's not the one drooling in the picture, anyway.


End file.
